Quick Guide to Practical Magick How to create a practical and results oriented ritual quickly and simply By Dead Jellyfish Posted Tuesday, July 27, 2004 What follows is a brief and simple guide to Practical Magick and the steps involved in creating a Result Oriented Ritual œ that is a ritual focus on getting laid, getting rich, or getting even. The material that follows is presented under the psychological model of Magick œ that there are no external gods or beings assisting in the Magick ritual, that the work being done arises from the Self. Step One: The Statement of Intent The first and most important step in creating a ritual is making a Statement of Intent. It is desirable to make the Statement of Intent as precise as possible, while endeavouring to keep it simple. Excessive complication reduces the probability of success for the working. Statements of Intent such as "It is my Will to have a lover who is tall, intelligent, blonde, speaks Spanish, has a red car, drinks coffee, doesn't smoke, has two sisters, has no thumbs, loves animals, plays Dungeons and Dragons, likes video games, etc." have very poor odds of working. While over complication is undesirable, so is the opposite. Being very vague will increases the odds of success greatly, but it will also increase the odds of achieving a result that is not desirable. A Statement of Intent such as "It is my Will to have a lover" will very likely be successful œ but that lover could be ugly, unintelligent, have a poor personality, or any of a number of other problems. Be careful what you ask for. You may just get it. Step Two: Sigilization of the Statement of Intent Humans are masochistic creatures. Although we have desires to be successful, wealthy, attractive and healthy œ we also have many hidden desires that are much darker. We often enjoy failure as much as we do success. You may not believe that people desire to fail, but if you look around and observe people, it is quite easy to see. People crave attention from other people, and failure is an easy way of getting attention. "Oh whoa is me! My boyfriend left me. How will I ever get along without him? I can't possibly live without him. I'm so upset, boo hoo." People will hold onto losing a lover, getting fired, becoming ill, etc. for the sake of having something to complain about so that a sympathetic ear can listen. These masochistic desires apply to Magick as well. For every Statement of Intent that we write there is a secret desire in the depths of the mind, to bring about the ruin of that desire. To get around the secret desire for failure we can trick our own mind into forgetting the Statement of Intent, using a Magick technique called Sigilization. There are two basic kinds of Sigils: Pictograph Sigils, and Mantra Sigils. A Pictograph Sigil is a symbol constructed using elements that represent the Statement of Intent, yet do not directly resemble anything. A Mantra Sigil is a word or sentence made of nonsense sounds which were created from the Statement of Intent. For both kinds of Sigils the purpose is to have something that will symbolize the Statement of Intent and will be recognized by the subconscious mind but not by the conscious mind. Basic Sigil Construction How to Make a Sigil By Dead Jellyfish Posted Saturday, July 31, 2004 There are two basic kinds of Sigils: Pictograph Sigils, and Mantra Sigils. A Pictograph Sigil is a symbol constructed using elements that represent the Statement of Intent, yet do not directly resemble anything. A Mantra Sigil is a word or sentence made of nonsense sounds which were created from the Statement of Intent. For both kinds of Sigils the purpose is to have something that will symbolize the Statement of Intent and will be recognized by the subconscious mind but not by the conscious mind. Creating a Pictograph Sigil: To create a Pictograph Sigil first we draw a picture that represents our Statement of Intent. Let's use the Statement of Intent, "It is my Will to earn money through having a book published." First we draw a simple picture representing earning money through publishing a book: Next we simplify the picture a little: And then we simplify it further: We now have a picture which is based upon our Statement of Intent but is abstract enough that the concept of "earning money through publishing a book" will not arise in the conscious mind while looking at the symbol. Creating a Mantra Sigil: To create a Mantra Sigil, first we write down our Statement of Intent. This time we will use: It is my W ill to get a promotion at work. Next, we remove letters which are repeated: It s my W l o ge a prn a k. Then we combine these letters into some nonsense words: Itsm ywlog geap rnak. Rearrange the letters inside the words:M'tsi gowly pega kran Step Three: Setting the Mood with an Opening Rite. The next step in creating a ritual is choosing or creating a Banishing Rite to set the stage for the rest of the ritual. Traditionally, Banishings were used in Magickal Rituals as a kind of safe guard. In Medieval times most Magick was done from within the Christian paradigm -- and the forces summoned were feared. Banishings were used in that context as a form of protection against the forces summoned. Chaos Magickians, naturally, do not fear the god forms, demons and spirits that they call forth -- so the use of banishing as a form of protection from the beings evoked during ritual is unnecessary for Chaos Magickians. What, then is the role of banishing in a Chaos Magick ritual? I see banishing prior to and after ritual as like the terminals of a battery. The gnosis attained during the ritual is the juice of the battery, and the power being put into the ritual. The statement of intent is the electronic device being powered by the battery and the Banishings are the terminals of the battery, containing the power and focussing it toward the desired end. To perform a Banishing, the Magickian œ using a weapon or her hand œ draws a barrier in the air around herself. Next, she focuses her will on an image œ the weapon in hand, mystical symbols, a glowing light coming from inside, all up to the taste of the Magickian. Using the power of the visualized object the Magickian then re-enforces the barrier by drawing symbols at the points of the barrier: pentagrams, the chaos star or other markings. Lastly, the Magickian stands for a moment in silence and silences her mind. Left Hand Path Banishing A Simple Banishing for LHP Workings By Dead Jellyfish Posted Saturday, July 31, 2004 Here is a very simple banishing that I use before doing workings of a Left Hand Path nature. It helps the magickian enter a state of mind conducive to Left Hand Path workings. 1. Starting from the south, draw a sphere around yourself counter clockwise, with your left hand while visualizing the sphere in a colour of your choice. 2. Ring a bell nine times. A tuning fork also works very well. Note: when this banishing is used at the end of a ritual, the bell should be rung at the end instead. 3. Face the South. Take one step forward with your left foot and draw an inverted pentagram in the air with your left hand and say boldly the following: "I call forth Satan who brought the Promethean gift of the apple." (Visualize the serpent offering you the apple of gnosis). 4. Turn towards the East. Take one step forward with your left foot and draw an inverted pentagram in the air with your left hand and say the following: "I call forth Lucifer, the bringer of Light and Knowledge." (Visualize Lucifer rising, brilliant and triumphant) 5. Turn towards the North. Take one step forward with your left foot and draw an inverted pentagram in the air with your left hand and say the following: "I call forth Belial, he who has no master." (Visualize a powerful demon who bows before no God but himself) 6. Turn towards the West. Take one step forward with your left foot and draw an inverted pentagram in the air with your left hand and say the following: "I call forth Leviathan, the crocodile of the deep, the carnal animal of Chaos." (Visualize a crocodile with the eyes of a dragon) 7. Return to center of the sphere. Now you will invoke Set. (This part is should be skipped when this banishing is used at the end of a ritual.) "I invoke Set, who nightly slays Apep. By destroying the imp of Chaos, I create freedom for myself. I have the freedom to create any order I desire for myself, and I have the freedom to destroy it. I have the power to change at Will, and through change I can Become." 8. Re-enforce the sphere by standing motionless in quiet meditation until gnosis is reached. 9. Laughter. Step Four: Invocation or Evocation of a deity. Invocation is the act of calling forth a spirit into one's own body and evocation is the act of summoning a spirit externally to the Magickian. Using a psychological model of Magick œ these beings that are invoked and evoked do not exist in the objective universe. Rather, they are symbols representing various states of human consciousness.